Our gardening diaries - from latest toys, flowers to wildlife .. Please upload pics

[BigC]

Still fingers crossed for an Indian summer here in the north east .

I wouldn't be holding my breath @Zenj

 

[alp]

Morning all
Raining again behave @alp summer hasn't started here yet never mind gone .

Crying with you!

 

[alp]

The weather has been so fine and not too hot, so we went to Ightham Mote and then onto Sissinghurst.

Now I'm bingeing you lot:

It's an old house with an artificial mote, built in 1332

Just love these toad lilies

A lovely striking red zinnia

Have no idea what these fluffy flowers are

Like the green bits in this helenium

Haven't seen this flower for a long time

Love this monkey puzzle tree.. Wish I had bought one for £20! But it's a lot of money

Hope this will cheer @zenji up

Love these confused dahlias

Very interesting flowers

 

[Logan]

@alp that house is amazing. There's a lot of houses with beams like that in Worcester where i grew there's one building where Elizabeth the first rode past on her horse.

 

[alp]

They are lovely, @Logan In Suffolk, there are also a lot of wonky beamed houses. Shame I missed the introductory bit. Just went on the garden tour. That's a magical place for kids as well. There's a big round hole and out gushed the water. Kids jumped in the muddy puddles of water along the stream, and their parents all came with wellies for them. Big lawns for picnic and it's just so family friendly.

 

[Logan]

Morning all. Thanks @alp That place sounds like fun. Those monkey puzzle trees grow very big.Was up at same time, but hubby had trouble with taking berry out. Berry must have heard me shouting at barely and he wanted to come back in. He's gone out now and so has Barley.

 

[alp]

Good morning: @Logan Why were you shouting at the poor dog .. Hehe! Having dogs is just too much for me.. and they can't even talk back.. But I must say all the loyal and lovely stories about dogs are so touching. I wouldn't want to go out in the rain and come home with mud and rainwater all over the place.

It's when I go to places like these that I regretted not having more kids.

The same delphinium, like the one I have

Would love to add her to my list of alstroemerias

I hope I will have some astrantias next year

Kent is a lovely county, up and down and hills and valleys .. To have a place with so many spring sources is just fantastic. Even the ducks have a posh mansion

See the moat. It's artificial and is only about 3 or 4 feet deep.

The history of the place and the age of the trees are just fascinating.

 

[Verdun]

Morning everyone. Warm sunshine and a beautiful day in prospect.

 

[Logan]

Good Morning @alp. Lovely houses.When hubby went out with Berry, Barley picked up one of the mats, started shaking it about,i was shouting at him to leave it.ha ha. Then berry wouldn't go out for while,then hubby tried him again and he went. I'm fascinated with old buildings. where i'm living, found out that all this was farm land and there were dear being farmed. There's ditches that the Romans made to drain the land, it was marsh land before. That's why there's grey clay when i dig down a spade.

 

[Zenj]

Morning All what a difference a day makes beautiful clear sky this morning ,no wind and sunshine ,it did rain most of the night ,have a great day everyone

 

[alp]

Morning All what a difference a day makes beautiful clear sky this morning ,no wind and sunshine ,it did rain most of the night ,have a great day everyone

So happy for you. At least a FINE day. Fine weather does make a lot of difference .. even my flowers agree!

 

[alp]

Good Morning @alp. Lovely houses.When hubby went out with Berry, Barley picked up one of the mats, started shaking it about,i was shouting at him to leave it.ha ha. Then berry wouldn't go out for while,then hubby tried him again and he went. I'm fascinated with old buildings. where i'm living, found out that all this was farm land and there were dear being farmed. There's ditches that the Romans made to drain the land, it was marsh land before. That's why there's grey clay when i dig down a spade.

Deer being farmed! Interesting. People don't eat venison here really. I can understand why. Not very tasty. I might have to cook the apples into jam. There are far too many of them. The spaghetti squash is so big that I panic like hell. Can't even put it into the fridge. So I chopped it into halves.. now I have to eat them it quickly.

Your 2 dogs played up with jealous children .. Part of the fun .. Thank heavens that you're not living near a mining area.. Fancy what will happen when there is fracking.. I'm not being funny. This is not a big country, quite unlike America ..

I'd love to live near Ightham mote. Trouble is that they have this eco-bubble sewage system. Whilst waiting for the tour, the stench was just unbearable when the wind blew. We smelt a similar stench in Hyde Hall last time as they had to open up more area for car park and the reed bed was a telltale sign..

 

[Zenj]

A few from this morning camera use at last

 

[alp]

Stunning photography here! Love the first dahlia .. love the split ends. Even snapdragons look fab in your photo .. Aster or its relative is out in force.. I'm praying for an Indian summer. Even here, our temperature won't be more than 24c in the week ahead. Good time to go to London.. and I'm still waiting for my irises to arrive. If they look OK, I will return the refund, but I'm still waiting ..

The scabious are so well captured .. It's like you've shone a spotlight or two on them, @zenji
We're very cool here!

 

[Logan]

@alp can't you cook the apples and put them in the freezer for later? Haven't heard of apple jam. Picked more redcurrants, cutting back the old stems to make way for the new ones that's coming up. Also it will let in a lot of light for the blueberries.